February 15, 2025 • 47 mins
Talking Feds host Harry Litman stops by to discuss the insane amount of chaos in the Justice Department. Congressman Eric Swalwell talks about protecting citizens from DOGE’s unlawful aggressions on their data.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,
where we discussed the top political headlines with some of
today's best minds, and Utah State reps said Nazi flags
can fly in Utah schools, but not Pride flags. We
have such a great show for you today, talking Feds.
Harry Littman stops by to talk about all the criming.
(00:25):
Then we'll talk to Congressman Eric Swawell about protecting citizens
from DOGE and doge's many unlawful aggressions on your data.
But first the news.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You know, there's very few bipartisan things in this country,
but you know what, I think we all agree on
the people over seeing nuclear weapons should have jobs and
do them and show up to work each and every day.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I mean, many people are saying, look, Elon Musk is
taking a sledgehammer to the federal government. He has no
government job. He's one of Trump's rich donors. He has
about as much business cutting the federal government as Marion
Adelson does. I mean, you might as well just invite
her in there, right, because this is just very rich
(01:12):
donors going to town on the federal government. No congressional approval,
no congressional appointment, this is just we are in fantasy
land here. Trump's administration has laid off between twelve hundred
and two thousand employees at the Department of Energy. By
the way, I love that. They can't even tell you
how many, right, it's just a lot. And from the
(01:35):
Nuclear Security Administration, the Loan's office. Two sources familiar with
the decision told Reuters, by the way, we have that
we have layoffs at the VA. You know, the VA,
which provides healthcare for veterans. You know, veterans, the people
that Republicans pretend to like, right, pretend to care about.
(02:00):
But those people, they're healthcare getting cut off, getting curbed. Right.
By the way, those NIH grants a lot of that
still paused. That's cancer research just paused because Elon needs
a tax cut. But by the way, not just the VIA,
there's other stuff. Democratic lawmakers confirmed to the outlets that
(02:21):
layoffs could impact workers at national laboratories, hydroelectric plants, cold
War era nuke sites. You really don't need people working
in those places, do you really? I think it's fine.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Get some interns, listen the blind. They should have security
jobs that are nuclear sites. That seems like a good
place for them. To work.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The Department of Energy employs approximately fourteen hundred federal workers
and oversees ninety five thousand contractors across various energy and
security sectors. Well, now they employ less. According to two sources,
the layoffs followed the arrival of three representatives from billionaire
Muss Department of Government Efficiency at the agency. One source
(03:04):
revealed that approximately three hundred and twenty five employees had
been dismissed from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees
the US nuclear weapons fleet and works to secure radiological
materials worldwide. We never needed them, they're cocks.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, it wasn't everyone losing their mind just a few
months ago thinking that radiation had gone loose in New
Jersey and there's drones flying everywhere to find it. Really,
it's not a thing we're concerned about. But Bally, one
of the things I think about a lot is everybody
talks about national security. You know what really says security
the doose people who are getting access to every single
(03:44):
part of this government, who can't even secure their own website.
This is web literacy most high school students have these days.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, in case you're wondering, things are going great over
a Doge. So basically the doge website has been defaced
because anyone can edit it. So there's a website created
to document how Elon Mush his team is eveserating the
US federal government and it is open anyone can edit it.
(04:12):
This is the same Doge organization that has gained unprecedent
access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions
of Americans. You and me, our social security numbers are
being looked over by a guy. You'll remember him as
Big Balls, that guy. My favorite part of this whole
story is that these are young people who have very
(04:35):
similar ideological peccadillos to Elon Mush. They are young, they
are some of them have had serious ethical problems at
their jobs, and now they are paging through our data
and also making mistakes. If that weren't enough, will doge
dot gov displays a banner describing itself as an official
website of the United States government. The developers say it
(04:57):
feels like it was completely slapped together and doesn't appear
to be running on government servers. Even better, you love it.
Love it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So since we last spoke, there's been more evidence of
woke Mitch McConnell running aloof through the Capitol. He had
some choice words after R. FK Junior was confirmed as
h Secretary the other day.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, hero of the resistance, Mitch McConnell, who installed not one,
not two, but three Supreme Court justices to dismantle American democracy.
That guy does not like RFK Junior. Senator Mitch McConnell
issued a blistering indictment of Robert F. Kennedy Junior on Thursday. Yes, yes, Queen,
(05:44):
the Kentucky Republican.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Did not have a big oldcard at twenty twenty five,
Molly jug Fast, Yes, Queening Mitch McConnell.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well, he's not happy. You know, he did have polio.
By the way, Trump then said maybe he didn't have
pull and he wasn't totally sure. But I don't think Again,
many people aren't saying right two seconds on, I really
think Mitch McConnell had polio. I don't think he's lying.
I'm just gonna go out a limb, hear. I don't
think that Mitch mcconald has spent his entire life faking
(06:16):
a limp and lying that he had polio in order
to stick it to RFK. Junior. I just don't The
seneconfirmed the longtime anti vax activist and really let us
be honest and complete in any number of reasons deplorable
human being to the Department of Health and Human Services
on Thursday by a vote of fifty two to forty eight.
(06:39):
We're all going to die. McConnell was the only Republican
to vote no. Because we have hit end times. Yes,
I have nothing good to say about this except pray.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yes, I have sort of to say, quarantined that area
in Texas that has all the beasles, but that's a story.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, luckily vaccine. You know, viruses don't spread, so it
should be fun maybe to get some leeches in there
and will be okay.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So message discipline usually a thing you want out of
a new administration. Yes, it's sadly not going so well
over around the Defense Department and with Vice President JV.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Dance.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yes, everyone's favorite JD. JD stands for whatever. JD Vance
has issued a stark warning. Okay, so we got Hegseth
saying for NATO that Ukraine can't join. HeiG Seth goes
out there and says NATO's off the table for Ukraine,
a very good position when you've started negotiating to immediately
(07:45):
take the one thing that Ukraine had out of the equation.
Then Van says stark warning to Russia, threatening the potential
deployment of US troops. By the way, Vance also went
out to the Security Forum, which is like very serious
Europeans being very serious together. Harris went, it was extremely
(08:10):
serious and important. She thought of it as sort of
like one of her highlights of her career as vice president. Well,
Vance rolls in there and he tells them all that
they should do more to protect themselves, that America is
really busy with China right now, and he basically gives
the ur on your own speech. But while also doing that,
(08:32):
and he makes everyone really upset, and all of these
Europeans are pretty offended by this Vance speech. And while
that's going on, Vance also manages to disagree with Fox
and Friend Weekend host and now Defense Secretary Pete Hexas.
Congratulations to all who celebrate. Harry Littman is a former
(08:57):
US attorney and the host of the podcast Talking Fads.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Welcome to another law politics mash up with Me Harry
Ligman and Molly Jong Fast on what seems to me
like a pretty crazy wild day in law and politics.
I nevertheless want to take a second besides saying hi
to Molly and everyone knows, special correspondent for Ranny Fair,
host of the podcast Fast Politics.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And we ran into each other last week in California.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
In California, we hung out, we both talked to Chris Hayes.
But again, the big headline here is you've got a
new book coming out in June. You want to just
give us a quick skinny on that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, I have a new book coming out in June,
but it's miles away, but yes, it's called How to
Lose Your Mom. It'll be interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
We'll come and talk about then. And this it's really
important to me. I'm totally obsessed, as you won't be
surprised to hear with what's happening at DOJ. And it's
totally clear to me, as a DOJ alum and someone
steeped in that culture that this is huge and very
very clear. But my question slash concern is, Mollie, do
(10:09):
you think this penetrates the public mind and kind of
comes home in a way that people can really see
the clear line between corruption and rule of law and
it has purchased or is this one of three stories
this week?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So let's just set the table for those who are
not completely read in. I live in New York City
where we have a curse. It's called the mayoral curse,
and it is real, and we have our most recent
mayor is a man called Eric Adams, who it seems
as if he's shockingly corrupt. Now, perhaps it is just
(10:50):
normal business as usual with Turkey and not corrupt, but
he had many There were a couple of years where
it was like he's going to get into and he's
going to get indicted. Then eventually he did, in fact
manage to get indicted. And now there is a bizarre
situation where Trump World did this. Tom Holman, the head
(11:11):
of ICE, went on Fox and Friends, which is Donald
Trump's favorite show, and he sort of threatened the mayor
and said, well, you know you're in trouble, but we're
going to pause it as long as you do what
we want you to do. It was, by the way,
it's worth watching because I don't think there's ever been
(11:31):
something like this in America.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
The jocularity of it, right, yeah, crazy, right, And.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Also like just you know, you can't threaten people on television.
I mean, just the sheer criminess of the whole thing.
Like you know, at every point I was watching and thinking, oh,
I'd actually read reporting man, and I thought, oh, that
can't possibly be right. And then I started watching and
I was like, oh, wow, yeah, just shocking. The mayor
(11:57):
now is in this sort of detente where he thinks
he is going to get pardoned or not pardoned, but
he's going to have his prosecution basically possimist, yes, without prejudice,
so it could come back if he displeases Donald Trump
and his cronies, which I don't think there's any precedent.
It's like Watergate, if Watergate were smoking angel dust. And
(12:20):
you know, I mean, it's just so incredibly beyond the pale.
Our Governor Kathy Hochel, who is very cowardlay, could dismiss
the mayor tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I've in fired him, not dismissed yet.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Right, yeah, be like, this is ridiculous. You're not going
to drag the city through this. She will not do that,
at least not yet. She is known to be quite cowardly.
This would fit her personality. I would be shocked if
she did it, is that what you were asking. I
can't even remember what you were asking.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Not really, So there's two things that are happening.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So there's this shit show here. I mean, I think
everyone is hort you.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
On angel dust, but you agree that said though, the
way it really rings home to me, Molly is what's
going on within the Department of Justice, where Trump's handpicked
acting Deputy Attorney General has basically tried to hold guns
to successive heads, saying you must dismiss this case even
(13:20):
though the facts and the law I admit are fined.
That's the same as saying you must violate your oath,
as doj attorneys. And we're now up to you mentioned
Saai massacre that was three people involved, We're now up
to something like seven or eight, three or four in
Southern District of New York. Then they bring it to
main Justice and really high level people are resigning rather
(13:44):
than doing this. So to me, it's seismic in some
ways bigger than what happened in either Stai massacre or
twenty twenty one. Here's my question in a sentence, is
will this ring home to people as a clear this
weaponization by the Trump folks.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yes, you're not going to have anyone working in the government.
I mean, this is the accelerationist case for trump Ism
is the idea that the Justice Roberts Justice John Roberts
versus the Voting Rights Act. You know, if you cut
away in it, that is much more dangerous than if
you just set fire to the whole thing. And I mean, look,
(14:25):
are we going to be able to come out of
this thing and have a normal functioning democracy? That I
don't know, right That I think is a real open question.
There are a number of different things that could happen.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
This out tell them the regular people.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, Like these are just government agencies. I mean that's
the thing that I think is so striking about Elon.
It's like a lot of this stuff Elon is doing,
if you were a little quieter, he could get away
with it without the same you know, like they could
legislatively cut I mean they control all yeah, right, I
mean they could cut everything, they could make just but
(14:58):
the thing is they're not such good legislators. So we
find ourselves in a situation where we just have this
Elon's and the computers trying to fire everyone, and it's
hard to imagine that doesn't get people's attention.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Okay, your turn, but quick legal footnote. You mentioned Roberts,
who might really matter here. The person who resigned today
with a blistering letter as a John Roberts clerk who
had two tours of duty in a rock. Yes, it's
so good, guys, bad guys.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, right, And the person who resigned yesterday was a
Scalia clerk. I mean you don't think of Scolia.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
As you know.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I mean we're like, we're almost to Aldo Clerks and
Thomas Clerks.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Right, this is a nightmare cast of characters for Deer.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah. I think what's important here to remember, and this
is like people don't go into these businesses. They don't
go into the law to make money, right, They do
it because they think it's right. And I think that's
what we're looking at with these government employees too. They
are in it to do what's right, whereas the tech
billionaires are in it to make money. So like Elon
(16:04):
is in it to make money. And even like all
of these billionaires who have like back down and kissed
the ring with trump Ism, and even a lot of
these Republican politicians, I mean, maybe they're afraid of getting
primary or getting death threats. But like when you look
at these billionaires, you see these people are willing to
do anything to protect their bottom line. CEOs billionaires, and
(16:25):
so you really do see these career law people are
not in it for the cash.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I mean, they're in it for the pride of what
they do. And the thing that I hope people recognize
is they've told them to stand up and violate their
ows and lie. They're at the absolute marrow of who
they are as professionals. These are guys who you know,
are on a fast track to judge ships and stuff,
and they're just letting it go.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, and I mean I think that that is correct.
Let's go to where we are here with the legality
of all of this. We're seeing a lot of Trump
administration not doing the money they were supposed to not
you know, freezing funds that were impounded. So you have
Congress allocating funds for things, and the Omb freezing it
(17:12):
and not paying them out. I talked to some academics
this week who said that a lot of the NIH
funds are not flowing right. Even though a court has
ordered them to start paying, they're still not paying. So
what happens now?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, First, is it illegal? You bet? This is third
grade stuff. Congress passes laws, and in their laws they
say give X money, We've appropriated it to these people.
That's not something now for the executive that executes the
laws that he wasn't around for third grade to just ignore.
There have been other administrations that are pushed on the envelope.
(17:49):
They're just saying, screw you, we don't follow the law,
Make us do it. So what happens now? Lawsuits? There
are forty of them. There's been injunctions entered in six
of them, and I think the ones you mentioned will
in fact be enjoined. We put the freeze on it
for three days so we can then have a trial.
They have a trial. I think it does eventually play out, Molly,
(18:11):
and they have these very aggressive assertions of executive power.
I don't care what Congress says, I can do whatever
I want. That one of them reaches the Supreme Court,
and if the court surprises us, as it did with immunity,
then they unlined everything and they get away with it.
But I think in the short term it gets enjoined.
And the immediate crisis question is does Trump ignore what
(18:36):
courts tell them. That would be the sort of ultimate
constitutional crisis. But I think for now it goes to courts,
district courts who have to take the law as it
is and they enjoy it, so enjoin it means why
I'm sorry. They say you can't do this, they put
a freeze on it. Then the executive is supposed to
appeal that, which they've done in a couple instances. Of course,
(18:58):
if they instead, and this is like JD. Vance's whispers
say screw you, we're gonna do what. We're gonna impound anyway, right,
which is what.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Jd Vance has been tweeting about.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, gone, this never happened. Whatever people say. I just
had a subset about this. If we go through the
historical parallels, it's never happened, and we would be really
really and up against it exactly right. Constitutional crisis.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Say they're like, no, what can the courts do?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
The courts can absolutely order them. And there are cases
in which not the president, but like in the Civil
Rights era, Governor Faubus of Arkansas said no, and the
courts that we mean it, and all nine of us
sign it, and you know what, he knuckled under and
the courts will say it very firmly, and I think
they will, by the way, even this Supreme Court. Then
(19:49):
Trump says, fuck you. I'll take that as a talking
fed's vulgarity, not a faster politics one. And we are
up against it, like way way up against it. It's like,
you know, military force and popular sentiment. We are. This
is exactly what the framer's worn about. Not to get
two pointy headed, but if the executive says, I don't
(20:10):
care you said that, but I'm not going to do
it anyway. This is the soul of an authoritarian society, right.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Pretty scary.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Well, you know, I always love looking at your stuff
in preparation for this, even though so much is happening now.
But I did want to talk to You've had a
couple of Vanny Fair articles about Elon Musk, just on
some journalistic level, what a weird and crazy figure. But
you said, most recently that he's ushered in a new regime,
(20:37):
one that defies Bill Gates's spirit. By the way, new
book from him, we should uh, we'll be checking out
of capitalistic largest. Basically, he seems kind of like Trump
to be not just indifferent too, but contemptuous. Of humanitarian impulses, aid,
you know that that is not only feels like the
right thing to do, but seems to be administration after
(21:00):
administration has concluded in our national interests. The strong sense
that comes through as we're in a new era to
the extent about capitalism itself, to the extent Musk is
defining it? Is that right? And what conversation should we
be having about Musk? That maybe is getting lost in
just the sheer spectacle of his dancing around and insulting
(21:21):
people and doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
What should not be lost is why is he in
the computers? Why does he need to go into computers
if he wants to have an audit? Why not have
an audit? Why does he need to bring his ideological
young coders, many of whom he shares ideological affiliations with,
Why are.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They in the cat stay far right?
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Why? Why? Like, just explain to us why, because nobody
can tell us why? Right? The admin won't tell us why.
He won't tell us why he's fighting fraud. He has
yet to find any fraud. What he's found are things
that he doesn't like, which, well, he doesn't think that
USA should spend money on HIV prevention. He may not
(22:08):
like that, but that's not fraud. That's just something he
doesn't like. So the question is what are we doing here?
And the fact that we can't get an answer, and
the fact that the answers we're getting are either completely
divorced from what sounds reasonable. I mean, like that is
the thing that gets me. That is the big question
(22:29):
is like why does he need to get in those computers?
Is he training AI? Because we've seen there's so much
stuff to train AI on, it hardly seems necessary to
train it on the federal on all of our federal information.
So what are we looking at? What is he doing?
Why is he in there?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
We would need some financial information among other things that
he had so far he hasn't given, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, So that I think that's a big question. And
then I mean I have other thoughts, Like he does
use this anti democracy language as pretends that he's spreading democracy.
You know, he says, I want to restore a democracy.
He's mad at judges for checks and balances. He says
America can't be a democracy if judges have checks and balances.
(23:10):
I mean, he uses a lot of that Orwellian double
speak that is pretty destructive, but it's also just quite strange.
And like I think about yesterday when Mody, the President
of India, tweeted out a photo and on one side
is him and all of his advisors, and the other
side is Elon his third wife maybe wife, maybe not wife,
(23:35):
and many of his children. And I understand having kids.
I have a lot of kids. I have them in
my twenties, but you know, there's also places to bring
your kids and places not to bring your kids. And
when you're negotiating with the President of India, first of all,
by the way, why he's negotiating with the President of
India when he's not an elected official, Okay, but even still,
(23:56):
like I mean, just the idea that a Republican donor,
because that's that's all he is, right, is involving himself
in just dismantling the federal government. I think that's a
big deal.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I get off the train right there. But I'm you know, legal, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I mean, I'm not entirely sure at his polling. Trump
is in this honeymoon period where his polling is as
good as it's ever been. But even in this honeymoon period,
Elon's polling is not great. You know, he's still underwater
about nine points and there is no world in which
there are you know, he's a billionaire. He's not even
fucking from here, right, he is from South Africa, his parents,
(24:35):
you know. I mean, they're just so many reasons why
American voters unless I mean, I don't know, maybe TikTok
and the algorithms can do something to make this guy
seem likable, But in my mind, I think they have
a real uphill climb.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So you think he's going to crash and burn at
some point.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I think someone who doesn't sleep at all is heading
for right, Yeah, number one. I mean I personally need
to sleep at least six seven hours a night, So
that is number one. But also, we've had this American
experiment and it has never involved a really rich guy
from somewhere else coming.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
In richest in the world.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Really, it does seem unprecedented and not what certainly not
what people voted for. I kind of thought he was
just a sort of mincing little supporter there and all
of a sudden he's running the joint. Okay, your turn.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, so I want you to talk to me about, like,
is what Elon Musk is doing it's is it illegal?
And if it is illegal, how could that be prosecuted.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It's a great question because what it really is is
like mind blowing, what the what are you even thinking?
And but then you take a deep breath and get
down to law. And he was sued twice yesterday on
a theory Molly that is legal and nerdy, but I
think has teeth and it's one that conservatives have always loved.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
And this is themocratic attorneys generals doing.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
This well in general, you see the the you know,
nineteen twenty twenty two, democratic age's really stepping up. But
here's a creative lawsuit and off hand Larry Tribe others
seems pretty good to us. Jeff Bladner, here's the deal.
There are three kinds of people who work in the
executive brands. Principal officers like, cabinet infier officers like but
(26:25):
they're important US attorneys and then everybody else. The law
is clear for infeeror officers. You can appoint them if
you're a president, but Congress has to authorize you to
do it. That's what is happening with the whole was
happening with the old Jack Smith thing. Principal officers have
to be nominated by the president and confirmed. That is
the appointments clause, which the conservatives are so into, saying,
(26:50):
you can't mess with the president's power. And what makes
a principal officer or infeeror officer. It's a little loosey goosey.
It's based on responsibility and lines of authority. But who
the hell is this guy? He is now I think
been clearly put above the cabinet. The cabinet people are
all sort of reporting to him. He and this is
(27:13):
the lawsuit. Really seems like he's been made a principal
officer and if that's right, got to nominate him and
confirm them. So that's a very interesting legal challenge. Then
everything else. Trump is trying to get away with it, saying, oh,
he's given advice and we're adopting it. Different parts of
that advice are illegal, like don't spend the money that
(27:35):
Congress told you to spend. But the general attack on
Musk himself that your question, what is he doing here?
And who is this guy? I think the best legal
garb for that theory is you've given him that kind
of authority, you got to treat him differently under the Constitution.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right, And I mean it just seems so incredibly shocking.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I mean that's part of It's like, oh, it's got
to be illegal one, But then what do lawyers do.
They got to like take that feeling, go in the
law books and figure out something that'll have purchase in
the courts. But I think this is a good one.
It's not the only one, but it's the best one
i've heard. We'll see how it goes. As I say,
two of them were filed just yesterday. Great, all right,
My last one to you. In the SDNY thing, you
(28:24):
have Trump, you know, trying to say we're not weaponizing government.
They were, and now it doesn't hunt. You had him
in the campaign Molly saying, oh I'm not for Project
twenty twenty five, And sure as hell, here he is.
And it's just page after page of Project twenty twenty five.
And as you've pointed out, the guys at his highest
(28:45):
rating ever. Do we think that not only his weird
anti charisma, charisma, whatever the hell it is, Trump factor,
it's not just that, but actually the Project twenty twenty
five kind of pretty extreme, mean spirited principles have now
attracted the support of the majority of the American people.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
No, I think what's happening is that they haven't seen
any even in action. In some ways, I think Democrats
were very much a victim of their own success when
it came to Trump. So they prevented a lot of
what Trump wanted, right, Like he wanted to repeal Obamacare,
he was not able to do that. You know, there
were all these different things he wanted to do that
he wasn't able to do. And in the end of
(29:29):
the Trump Aadmin. Government spending was way up. Now it
was because of the pandemic, but it was so Democrats
were like, oh, he's going to do Project twenty twenty five.
And people were like.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, the book at the convention, right right, right.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
But they were like, yeah, maybe, but last time he didn't.
I think it was very hard to make the case
that that was going to happen because there wasn't a
lot of precedent for it. So what I think now,
as we look onto this, you're seeing cuts at the
VA and cut for Medicare, And these are cuts. These
are not even legislatid cuts. These are just elon fork
(30:06):
in the road email cuts. So those cuts, if they're
really accurate. And again they you know, I don't know
how I mean, but even just like the freeze, the
NIH freeze, right, the NIH funding freeze, these things are
not popular, right, Like people don't like the reason why
billionaires have had to spend billions and billions of dollars
(30:29):
trying to promote tax cuts and stuff like that is
because voters don't like it, right, They don't like tax
cuts for corporations. Who is that for corporations? Not shareholders?
So Republicans. So I think that as it goes through,
people are going to see like, oh I used to
have this and now I don't. Oh who's president? I mean,
(30:50):
you know, I think that is definitely going to happen
and be real. And you're already seeing like cuts to snap.
These are Trump voters, right, These red states are not
filled with affluent people.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, now people in Alabama now can't pay their electric
bills right.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Right, And even like in Alabama is a really good
example because the University of Alabama is the biggest employer
in that state. So you have funding frozen to the
largest employer in a red state. I'm sorry, but like,
sooner or later, that's going to catch up with you.
So now the question, I think the real question will
(31:26):
be how much can this sort of maga media complex
cover for this. How much can they spin? Can they
spin you used to get two hundred dollars a week,
Now you get one hundred dollars a week. Can they
spin that? Maybe they can. I don't know. I'm not
a psychic, but I think that's where we're going to
get to.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Got it? Yeah? Trump said the other day, Oh, there
now will be paying it first.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Elon said that. I mean, you know, you're taking stuff
away from people. But again, like Democrats keep saying they're
going to do this, and Trump voters are like, no,
we are out of time. Thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You always great Another Molly mashup coming next month. Thank
you very much. Men O Man heavy time for both
of us.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Thank you, Harry Lentman. That was really good. Congressman Eric
Swahwaw represents California's fourteenth district. Welcome back to Fast Politics,
Congressman Eric.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Swahwell, Hey, Molly, what's happening?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I am without words today. I was on the internet
and I noticed that the federal government took eighty million
dollars of FEMA money back from the UH from New York.
What can they do that? Also, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (32:43):
No, they can't do any of the shit right.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
It's mostly just this shock and awe campaign and the
courts are just catching up with them on it. The
courts don't move at the speed of their corruptionism. Yes,
the courts are catching up. That's the good news. And
we're winning in the courts.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Also.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
The good news now they'll be appealed and ultimately will
be in front of the Supreme Court and we're going
to see is this the Supreme Court that said that
Trump had to be sentenced before the inauguration when he
tried to escape that, or is this the Supreme Court
that gave him absolute immunity. It's been quite a you know,
schizophrenic court, and so it's hard to tell what they'll do.
(33:22):
But the good news is like this stuff is being
paused and that one's probably going to be paused as well.
And then in the House, you know, look, we have
government funding coming up.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
On March fourteen.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
These geniuses have never been able to fund the government
on their own. The majority of the votes have always
come from Democrats. Spoiler alert, they're not going to be
able to fund the government on their own again. And
so I promise you, my Democratic colleagues and I we
are not going to fund a government that they have
(33:55):
already shut down, and we are in a government down
right now. We're not going to be a part of
anything you know, that funds like further shutting down of services.
And so that's the leverage I see us as having here.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
So I'm really glad you said that, because that is
what everyone wants. I mean, what you just said was
exactly the thing that I think a lot of us
have been ringing our hands about, which is there's one
piece of leverage that Democrats have left, right, which is
that Republicans cannot legislate their way out of a paper bag.
(34:32):
So you have this funding shutdown, and then you have
that Republicans, who care so much about fiscal responsibility want
to raise the debt ceiling four billion dollars.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
And they didn't want to do this when they saw
it as a way to own Joe Biden over a
year ago, when Democrats were seeking, you know, to do
a shorter term debt ceiling raise, which is essentially just
paying our bills. But and Trump was tweeting at the
time that Republicans absolutely should not do it again.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
He just wanted to, you know, fuck over Joe Biden.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
That was the only thinking behind it, and reeding to
do with making sure we pay our bills and that
we don't default upon our credit. And now that it's Trump,
he's like, well, I can't give away these big that's me.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
You want to pay out to the billionaires.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I can't give away all this money to the
billionaires without raising the dead ceiling.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
That's why he needs to do that.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
But you know, Molly, we have to be careful just
pointing them out as hypocritical, that doesn't work anymore. I've
priced in that these guys, you know, just because they
said A on Tuesday and they're saying Z on Wednesday,
that doesn't matter. We need to boil it down to
you were promised cheaper eggs and all you've gotten is
cheaper talk, you know, from the Republican And that's really
(35:48):
all that's going to matter.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
And by the way, I went to the grocery store
to die and there was like a little sign that's
like our eggs are more expensive. I want you to
explain to us the New Vogue Conversation topic in political
circles is that Democrats are not doing enough. I actually
think that you guys are starting to really kick it
into gear. So tell us what you guys are doing.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
A big part of this is just being present, letting
our be heard, and I've tried to update my constituents
every couple days with an Instagram Live. I'm doing a
town hall on Tuesday next week in Union City, the
heart of my congressional district. But just being accessible right now,
I think is really important so that people know that
(36:33):
you know you're listening. Every week or so, I'm doing
this under the Dome, a series where I do about
a five to six minute behind the scenes of what
we're working on that week, so people know that I'm
in the fight and I'm trying to draw them in
as well. So I've just recommended my colleagues be as
accessible is possible. Always on as a model right like
(36:54):
of social in the community on television. Just be always
on right now so people know you know that we
have not shrunk in our duties. But I also say
to people who are on the sidelines right now and
they're demoralized and they're upset about what happened in the
November election.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
I tell them, I understand.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
If you are not yet ready to join the fight,
and when you are ready, I'm ready to hold your
hand and go to battle with you. So just tell
me when you're ready, and I'll fight for you, and
others will fight for you.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
But I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Right now, Let's talk about sort of what Democrats can do.
So there's going to be a dead ceiling fight, there's
going to be a government shutdown fight. You don't have
control of the House, but you have sort of some
control of the House. So talk us through. Can you
guys do hearings? What kind of oversight can you guys do.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
We can kick ass in these congressional hearings. And I
think you're seeing us rise to the occasion in that regard.
Like you know, watch rober Garcia, a sophomore member from
Long Beach, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green first day ever
with the Gabble today doing this doge hearing, and he
was great. He was responding, landing points, using demonstrative evidence
(38:12):
to make his points to it.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
It was good.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
He was working in all all forms of media to
do it. And I'm just excited about this next generation
of leaders that we're seeing, for example, on the Judiciary Committee,
we added Jasmine Crocket and Dan Goldman and Jared Moskowitz.
I mean, these were people who really shined in the
Oversight Committee last year and now they're on Judiciary under
(38:35):
Jamie Raskin's leadership. And so yeah, it's also hearings we
hold them accountable. And then we have our own legal
strategy that Leader Jeffries is starting to roll out to
show you know, what we can do as well to
join the legal fight, you know, to stop you know,
the worst of the Trump administration so.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
We're not we're not helpless.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
And then, by the way, we need to show the
country who are the people on the Republican side that
are making the decisions about your life, who are most
likely to be thrown out of office if they make
the wrong decision, And so that you know, you give
them a homework assignment so they know who are the
twenty to thirty people who we should start organizing and
mobilizing around to beat if they were to take away
(39:15):
your health care or increase the cost of it.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
So you're going to hit frontliners on the GOP side.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
We have to.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
This is important only because right now and I can
say this is somebody who ran against an incumbent myself
when I got elected. This is the period of time
where candidates are deliberating over whether they want to run
for office. And we'll know by early fall who are
the candidates running and the seats that we are the
best shot at winning, and the caliber of those candidates
(39:44):
is going to matter. And so what we can do
on the inside right now in Congress is to create
an environment where the waters are worn and they feel like, Okay,
I'm going to make this big sacrifice, put my family
through hell, have to ask all my friends for money,
knock on one hundred thousand doors, and will it be
worth it? Is there a shot for me to win?
(40:04):
So we can create the environment where they see that
it's worth it, so that we attract the best who
can give us the best shot to win. And if
we win the House, Molly, we cut our time in
hell and half right.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
And if you win the House, you can do oversight.
One of the things I've been struck by is watching
members of the Doge Committee but opening the door again.
What I don't understand is you've got Republicans want They're
saying that they want to cut waste, but really they
want to cut the government subsidies the kind of thing
(40:37):
I mean, don't They just want to cut the social
safety net and they're saying that the safety net is fraud.
I mean, explain this, gass.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
The only way you know to pay for these tax
cuts that they're proposing, you know, would be cuts to
the Affordable Care Act, Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid.
That there's no way around it. And so that's what
they're going to have to do. And by the way,
we are seeing as Doge cuts, the government under Trump
is going to spend you know, more on Musk's government
(41:07):
funded projects.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Right, So he's in these systems.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
I would put him on a top five list of
individuals who benefit the most in America from government spending.
And he's in there making cuts as his contracts expand.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
So that that is right. Concert.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Do you know what Elon Musk and his merry band
of early twenty year olds are doing in all those
government computers.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
They're in your data, they're in my data, they're in
the data of Americans.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
And what are they doing in there?
Speaker 5 (41:38):
They're going through to see, you know, how they can
change the way that government funded programs are funded. And
we've seen this because of the filings that these departments
and agencies have had to do under court order. And
we learned, you know, yesterday that one of these doge bros.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
He was supposed to.
Speaker 5 (41:58):
Be in what's called a read only part of the
Treasury Department's data, but that he was given accidentally. They said,
you know, the ability to edit and to take affirmative acts.
Whether they are acting maliciously with our data or whether
through mistake, these unvetted, untrusted individuals are getting access to
(42:19):
our data, it's still a shit show, right. I don't
care if it's malice or unintentional. I don't want these
unvetted individuals to have access to our data.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
It just seems like a big violation of our priduice.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Also, why do they want the data? Like, that's what
I don't totally understand, Like, tell me what the sort
of what they say the excuses for doing it.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
They would argue that they're trying to look at how
the government spends money and who the recipients are and
whether there's cuts that can be made. Now, of course,
if they're like chat gpten this thing, they're essentially looking
for any anything that has to do with climate change,
anything that has to do with the verse city. We
(43:00):
had one massive government agency whistleblower come to our office
and tell us that a particular project was told get
rid of everything on your website and in your materials
that refers to climate change. So there's this just practice
of identifying government programs that help people that don't align
(43:22):
with what Donald Trump wants. And these are ones that
are already funded by Congress and deleting them and ending them.
And you know, the good news is is I said,
the courts are not going along with this right now,
but that is their aim.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
What can you do in Congress to sort of put
the brakes on? Are you guys willing to do more
sort of blocking doors and forcing them to do whatever
they can do? I mean, what else can you guys do?
Speaker 5 (43:48):
My vote is the most powerful tool that I have.
I am going to block a further government shutdown. So
I'm not going to support anything that keeps the government
shut down, which is what they're doing right now. My
voice is the other effective tool, and so I'm going
to continue to update my constituents, tell them what they
can do in the fight as well, and who they
should be holding accountable and so that we socialize, you know, with.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
The public what the cost is of all of this.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
But I think at the end of the day, Molly,
what this really has to be about is what the fuck.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
Does any of this have to do with lowering.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
The cost of your groceries. That's what I promised he
had a mandate to do that. He never manage to
go look at our data, you know, with people that
don't work for the government. You have a mandate to
put the most violent people who have ever you know,
attacked the government and put them on our streets. Hen
to have a mandate to fire FBI agents who combat
(44:40):
terrorism and public corruption and money laundering. He didn't have
a mandate to do any of that, but that's where
his focus, you know, seems to be. And then anything
that goes wrong he just blames Dei. That's what he says.
If there's an airplane crash, it was DEI. If there's
a fire in La it was Dei, Which means to
me that the next time he says something was caused
by DEI, that to him, DEI stands for didn't ever investigate,
(45:06):
Because that's just an alibi for them to not be
held accountable for what's happening on their watch.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
Eric, of course, thank you all.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
No, momentlefut, Jesse, Cannon, Molly, we know this stuff is coming.
North Dakota is going to try to ban the morning
after pill, because that's smart.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I never saw this coming. I never ever ever saw
this coming. I never ever, ever, ever ever saw this coming. Yes,
who could have seen that the Republicans who wanted to
ban the abortion pill would take their banning powers to
(45:55):
the morning after pill. Look, the whole idea is that
Republicans believe that a sperm and an egg is a
person and that that person should have more rights than
you do. And that is how we got here. So, yes,
North Dakota, the Republicans are going to do this personhood
bill HB thirteen seventy three, which would make abortion of
(46:18):
crime that can be prosecuted similar to murder and assault.
But that said, if you murder a woman, you're probably okay.
It defines an unborn child is an egg innisperm. Does
this pass? I mean there's no reason why it won
I mean, these guys are out of control, by the way,
I just want to point out this is what Project
(46:38):
twenty twenty five wants to do, and if you don't
see that birth control is next, then I don't know
what to tell you. That's it for this episode of
Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
to hear the best minds and politics make sense of
(46:58):
all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please send
it to a friend and keep the conversation going. Thanks
for listening.
Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,
where we discussed the top political headlines with some of
today's best minds, and Utah State reps said Nazi flags
can fly in Utah schools, but not Pride flags. We
have such a great show for you today, talking Feds.
Harry Littman stops by to talk about all the criming.
(00:25):
Then we'll talk to Congressman Eric Swawell about protecting citizens
from DOGE and doge's many unlawful aggressions on your data.
But first the news.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You know, there's very few bipartisan things in this country,
but you know what, I think we all agree on
the people over seeing nuclear weapons should have jobs and
do them and show up to work each and every day.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I mean, many people are saying, look, Elon Musk is
taking a sledgehammer to the federal government. He has no
government job. He's one of Trump's rich donors. He has
about as much business cutting the federal government as Marion
Adelson does. I mean, you might as well just invite
her in there, right, because this is just very rich
(01:12):
donors going to town on the federal government. No congressional approval,
no congressional appointment, this is just we are in fantasy
land here. Trump's administration has laid off between twelve hundred
and two thousand employees at the Department of Energy. By
the way, I love that. They can't even tell you
how many, right, it's just a lot. And from the
(01:35):
Nuclear Security Administration, the Loan's office. Two sources familiar with
the decision told Reuters, by the way, we have that
we have layoffs at the VA. You know, the VA,
which provides healthcare for veterans. You know, veterans, the people
that Republicans pretend to like, right, pretend to care about.
(02:00):
But those people, they're healthcare getting cut off, getting curbed. Right.
By the way, those NIH grants a lot of that
still paused. That's cancer research just paused because Elon needs
a tax cut. But by the way, not just the VIA,
there's other stuff. Democratic lawmakers confirmed to the outlets that
(02:21):
layoffs could impact workers at national laboratories, hydroelectric plants, cold
War era nuke sites. You really don't need people working
in those places, do you really? I think it's fine.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Get some interns, listen the blind. They should have security
jobs that are nuclear sites. That seems like a good
place for them. To work.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The Department of Energy employs approximately fourteen hundred federal workers
and oversees ninety five thousand contractors across various energy and
security sectors. Well, now they employ less. According to two sources,
the layoffs followed the arrival of three representatives from billionaire
Muss Department of Government Efficiency at the agency. One source
(03:04):
revealed that approximately three hundred and twenty five employees had
been dismissed from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees
the US nuclear weapons fleet and works to secure radiological
materials worldwide. We never needed them, they're cocks.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, it wasn't everyone losing their mind just a few
months ago thinking that radiation had gone loose in New
Jersey and there's drones flying everywhere to find it. Really,
it's not a thing we're concerned about. But Bally, one
of the things I think about a lot is everybody
talks about national security. You know what really says security
the doose people who are getting access to every single
(03:44):
part of this government, who can't even secure their own website.
This is web literacy most high school students have these days.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, in case you're wondering, things are going great over
a Doge. So basically the doge website has been defaced
because anyone can edit it. So there's a website created
to document how Elon Mush his team is eveserating the
US federal government and it is open anyone can edit it.
(04:12):
This is the same Doge organization that has gained unprecedent
access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions
of Americans. You and me, our social security numbers are
being looked over by a guy. You'll remember him as
Big Balls, that guy. My favorite part of this whole
story is that these are young people who have very
(04:35):
similar ideological peccadillos to Elon Mush. They are young, they
are some of them have had serious ethical problems at
their jobs, and now they are paging through our data
and also making mistakes. If that weren't enough, will doge
dot gov displays a banner describing itself as an official
website of the United States government. The developers say it
(04:57):
feels like it was completely slapped together and doesn't appear
to be running on government servers. Even better, you love it.
Love it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So since we last spoke, there's been more evidence of
woke Mitch McConnell running aloof through the Capitol. He had
some choice words after R. FK Junior was confirmed as
h Secretary the other day.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, hero of the resistance, Mitch McConnell, who installed not one,
not two, but three Supreme Court justices to dismantle American democracy.
That guy does not like RFK Junior. Senator Mitch McConnell
issued a blistering indictment of Robert F. Kennedy Junior on Thursday. Yes, yes, Queen,
(05:44):
the Kentucky Republican.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Did not have a big oldcard at twenty twenty five,
Molly jug Fast, Yes, Queening Mitch McConnell.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well, he's not happy. You know, he did have polio.
By the way, Trump then said maybe he didn't have
pull and he wasn't totally sure. But I don't think Again,
many people aren't saying right two seconds on, I really
think Mitch McConnell had polio. I don't think he's lying.
I'm just gonna go out a limb, hear. I don't
think that Mitch mcconald has spent his entire life faking
(06:16):
a limp and lying that he had polio in order
to stick it to RFK. Junior. I just don't The
seneconfirmed the longtime anti vax activist and really let us
be honest and complete in any number of reasons deplorable
human being to the Department of Health and Human Services
on Thursday by a vote of fifty two to forty eight.
(06:39):
We're all going to die. McConnell was the only Republican
to vote no. Because we have hit end times. Yes,
I have nothing good to say about this except pray.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yes, I have sort of to say, quarantined that area
in Texas that has all the beasles, but that's a story.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, luckily vaccine. You know, viruses don't spread, so it
should be fun maybe to get some leeches in there
and will be okay.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So message discipline usually a thing you want out of
a new administration. Yes, it's sadly not going so well
over around the Defense Department and with Vice President JV.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Dance.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yes, everyone's favorite JD. JD stands for whatever. JD Vance
has issued a stark warning. Okay, so we got Hegseth
saying for NATO that Ukraine can't join. HeiG Seth goes
out there and says NATO's off the table for Ukraine,
a very good position when you've started negotiating to immediately
(07:45):
take the one thing that Ukraine had out of the equation.
Then Van says stark warning to Russia, threatening the potential
deployment of US troops. By the way, Vance also went
out to the Security Forum, which is like very serious
Europeans being very serious together. Harris went, it was extremely
(08:10):
serious and important. She thought of it as sort of
like one of her highlights of her career as vice president. Well,
Vance rolls in there and he tells them all that
they should do more to protect themselves, that America is
really busy with China right now, and he basically gives
the ur on your own speech. But while also doing that,
(08:32):
and he makes everyone really upset, and all of these
Europeans are pretty offended by this Vance speech. And while
that's going on, Vance also manages to disagree with Fox
and Friend Weekend host and now Defense Secretary Pete Hexas.
Congratulations to all who celebrate. Harry Littman is a former
(08:57):
US attorney and the host of the podcast Talking Fads.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Welcome to another law politics mash up with Me Harry
Ligman and Molly Jong Fast on what seems to me
like a pretty crazy wild day in law and politics.
I nevertheless want to take a second besides saying hi
to Molly and everyone knows, special correspondent for Ranny Fair,
host of the podcast Fast Politics.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And we ran into each other last week in California.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
In California, we hung out, we both talked to Chris Hayes.
But again, the big headline here is you've got a
new book coming out in June. You want to just
give us a quick skinny on that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, I have a new book coming out in June,
but it's miles away, but yes, it's called How to
Lose Your Mom. It'll be interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
We'll come and talk about then. And this it's really
important to me. I'm totally obsessed, as you won't be
surprised to hear with what's happening at DOJ. And it's
totally clear to me, as a DOJ alum and someone
steeped in that culture that this is huge and very
very clear. But my question slash concern is, Mollie, do
(10:09):
you think this penetrates the public mind and kind of
comes home in a way that people can really see
the clear line between corruption and rule of law and
it has purchased or is this one of three stories
this week?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So let's just set the table for those who are
not completely read in. I live in New York City
where we have a curse. It's called the mayoral curse,
and it is real, and we have our most recent
mayor is a man called Eric Adams, who it seems
as if he's shockingly corrupt. Now, perhaps it is just
(10:50):
normal business as usual with Turkey and not corrupt, but
he had many There were a couple of years where
it was like he's going to get into and he's
going to get indicted. Then eventually he did, in fact
manage to get indicted. And now there is a bizarre
situation where Trump World did this. Tom Holman, the head
(11:11):
of ICE, went on Fox and Friends, which is Donald
Trump's favorite show, and he sort of threatened the mayor
and said, well, you know you're in trouble, but we're
going to pause it as long as you do what
we want you to do. It was, by the way,
it's worth watching because I don't think there's ever been
(11:31):
something like this in America.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
The jocularity of it, right, yeah, crazy, right, And.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Also like just you know, you can't threaten people on television.
I mean, just the sheer criminess of the whole thing.
Like you know, at every point I was watching and thinking, oh,
I'd actually read reporting man, and I thought, oh, that
can't possibly be right. And then I started watching and
I was like, oh, wow, yeah, just shocking. The mayor
(11:57):
now is in this sort of detente where he thinks
he is going to get pardoned or not pardoned, but
he's going to have his prosecution basically possimist, yes, without prejudice,
so it could come back if he displeases Donald Trump
and his cronies, which I don't think there's any precedent.
It's like Watergate, if Watergate were smoking angel dust. And
(12:20):
you know, I mean, it's just so incredibly beyond the pale.
Our Governor Kathy Hochel, who is very cowardlay, could dismiss
the mayor tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I've in fired him, not dismissed yet.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Right, yeah, be like, this is ridiculous. You're not going
to drag the city through this. She will not do that,
at least not yet. She is known to be quite cowardly.
This would fit her personality. I would be shocked if
she did it, is that what you were asking. I
can't even remember what you were asking.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Not really, So there's two things that are happening.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So there's this shit show here. I mean, I think
everyone is hort you.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
On angel dust, but you agree that said though, the
way it really rings home to me, Molly is what's
going on within the Department of Justice, where Trump's handpicked
acting Deputy Attorney General has basically tried to hold guns
to successive heads, saying you must dismiss this case even
(13:20):
though the facts and the law I admit are fined.
That's the same as saying you must violate your oath,
as doj attorneys. And we're now up to you mentioned
Saai massacre that was three people involved, We're now up
to something like seven or eight, three or four in
Southern District of New York. Then they bring it to
main Justice and really high level people are resigning rather
(13:44):
than doing this. So to me, it's seismic in some
ways bigger than what happened in either Stai massacre or
twenty twenty one. Here's my question in a sentence, is
will this ring home to people as a clear this
weaponization by the Trump folks.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yes, you're not going to have anyone working in the government.
I mean, this is the accelerationist case for trump Ism
is the idea that the Justice Roberts Justice John Roberts
versus the Voting Rights Act. You know, if you cut
away in it, that is much more dangerous than if
you just set fire to the whole thing. And I mean, look,
(14:25):
are we going to be able to come out of
this thing and have a normal functioning democracy? That I
don't know, right That I think is a real open question.
There are a number of different things that could happen.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
This out tell them the regular people.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, Like these are just government agencies. I mean that's
the thing that I think is so striking about Elon.
It's like a lot of this stuff Elon is doing,
if you were a little quieter, he could get away
with it without the same you know, like they could
legislatively cut I mean they control all yeah, right, I
mean they could cut everything, they could make just but
(14:58):
the thing is they're not such good legislators. So we
find ourselves in a situation where we just have this
Elon's and the computers trying to fire everyone, and it's
hard to imagine that doesn't get people's attention.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Okay, your turn, but quick legal footnote. You mentioned Roberts,
who might really matter here. The person who resigned today
with a blistering letter as a John Roberts clerk who
had two tours of duty in a rock. Yes, it's
so good, guys, bad guys.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, right, And the person who resigned yesterday was a
Scalia clerk. I mean you don't think of Scolia.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
As you know.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I mean we're like, we're almost to Aldo Clerks and
Thomas Clerks.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Right, this is a nightmare cast of characters for Deer.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah. I think what's important here to remember, and this
is like people don't go into these businesses. They don't
go into the law to make money, right, They do
it because they think it's right. And I think that's
what we're looking at with these government employees too. They
are in it to do what's right, whereas the tech
billionaires are in it to make money. So like Elon
(16:04):
is in it to make money. And even like all
of these billionaires who have like back down and kissed
the ring with trump Ism, and even a lot of
these Republican politicians, I mean, maybe they're afraid of getting
primary or getting death threats. But like when you look
at these billionaires, you see these people are willing to
do anything to protect their bottom line. CEOs billionaires, and
(16:25):
so you really do see these career law people are
not in it for the cash.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I mean, they're in it for the pride of what
they do. And the thing that I hope people recognize
is they've told them to stand up and violate their
ows and lie. They're at the absolute marrow of who
they are as professionals. These are guys who you know,
are on a fast track to judge ships and stuff,
and they're just letting it go.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, and I mean I think that that is correct.
Let's go to where we are here with the legality
of all of this. We're seeing a lot of Trump
administration not doing the money they were supposed to not
you know, freezing funds that were impounded. So you have
Congress allocating funds for things, and the Omb freezing it
(17:12):
and not paying them out. I talked to some academics
this week who said that a lot of the NIH
funds are not flowing right. Even though a court has
ordered them to start paying, they're still not paying. So
what happens now?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, First, is it illegal? You bet? This is third
grade stuff. Congress passes laws, and in their laws they
say give X money, We've appropriated it to these people.
That's not something now for the executive that executes the
laws that he wasn't around for third grade to just ignore.
There have been other administrations that are pushed on the envelope.
(17:49):
They're just saying, screw you, we don't follow the law,
Make us do it. So what happens now? Lawsuits? There
are forty of them. There's been injunctions entered in six
of them, and I think the ones you mentioned will
in fact be enjoined. We put the freeze on it
for three days so we can then have a trial.
They have a trial. I think it does eventually play out, Molly,
(18:11):
and they have these very aggressive assertions of executive power.
I don't care what Congress says, I can do whatever
I want. That one of them reaches the Supreme Court,
and if the court surprises us, as it did with immunity,
then they unlined everything and they get away with it.
But I think in the short term it gets enjoined.
And the immediate crisis question is does Trump ignore what
(18:36):
courts tell them. That would be the sort of ultimate
constitutional crisis. But I think for now it goes to courts,
district courts who have to take the law as it
is and they enjoy it, so enjoin it means why
I'm sorry. They say you can't do this, they put
a freeze on it. Then the executive is supposed to
appeal that, which they've done in a couple instances. Of course,
(18:58):
if they instead, and this is like JD. Vance's whispers
say screw you, we're gonna do what. We're gonna impound anyway, right,
which is what.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Jd Vance has been tweeting about.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, gone, this never happened. Whatever people say. I just
had a subset about this. If we go through the
historical parallels, it's never happened, and we would be really
really and up against it exactly right. Constitutional crisis.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Say they're like, no, what can the courts do?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
The courts can absolutely order them. And there are cases
in which not the president, but like in the Civil
Rights era, Governor Faubus of Arkansas said no, and the
courts that we mean it, and all nine of us
sign it, and you know what, he knuckled under and
the courts will say it very firmly, and I think
they will, by the way, even this Supreme Court. Then
(19:49):
Trump says, fuck you. I'll take that as a talking
fed's vulgarity, not a faster politics one. And we are
up against it, like way way up against it. It's like,
you know, military force and popular sentiment. We are. This
is exactly what the framer's worn about. Not to get
two pointy headed, but if the executive says, I don't
(20:10):
care you said that, but I'm not going to do
it anyway. This is the soul of an authoritarian society, right.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Pretty scary.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Well, you know, I always love looking at your stuff
in preparation for this, even though so much is happening now.
But I did want to talk to You've had a
couple of Vanny Fair articles about Elon Musk, just on
some journalistic level, what a weird and crazy figure. But
you said, most recently that he's ushered in a new regime,
(20:37):
one that defies Bill Gates's spirit. By the way, new
book from him, we should uh, we'll be checking out
of capitalistic largest. Basically, he seems kind of like Trump
to be not just indifferent too, but contemptuous. Of humanitarian impulses, aid,
you know that that is not only feels like the
right thing to do, but seems to be administration after
(21:00):
administration has concluded in our national interests. The strong sense
that comes through as we're in a new era to
the extent about capitalism itself, to the extent Musk is
defining it? Is that right? And what conversation should we
be having about Musk? That maybe is getting lost in
just the sheer spectacle of his dancing around and insulting
(21:21):
people and doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
What should not be lost is why is he in
the computers? Why does he need to go into computers
if he wants to have an audit? Why not have
an audit? Why does he need to bring his ideological
young coders, many of whom he shares ideological affiliations with,
Why are.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They in the cat stay far right?
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Why? Why? Like, just explain to us why, because nobody
can tell us why? Right? The admin won't tell us why.
He won't tell us why he's fighting fraud. He has
yet to find any fraud. What he's found are things
that he doesn't like, which, well, he doesn't think that
USA should spend money on HIV prevention. He may not
(22:08):
like that, but that's not fraud. That's just something he
doesn't like. So the question is what are we doing here?
And the fact that we can't get an answer, and
the fact that the answers we're getting are either completely
divorced from what sounds reasonable. I mean, like that is
the thing that gets me. That is the big question
(22:29):
is like why does he need to get in those computers?
Is he training AI? Because we've seen there's so much
stuff to train AI on, it hardly seems necessary to
train it on the federal on all of our federal information.
So what are we looking at? What is he doing?
Why is he in there?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
We would need some financial information among other things that
he had so far he hasn't given, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, So that I think that's a big question. And
then I mean I have other thoughts, Like he does
use this anti democracy language as pretends that he's spreading democracy.
You know, he says, I want to restore a democracy.
He's mad at judges for checks and balances. He says
America can't be a democracy if judges have checks and balances.
(23:10):
I mean, he uses a lot of that Orwellian double
speak that is pretty destructive, but it's also just quite strange.
And like I think about yesterday when Mody, the President
of India, tweeted out a photo and on one side
is him and all of his advisors, and the other
side is Elon his third wife maybe wife, maybe not wife,
(23:35):
and many of his children. And I understand having kids.
I have a lot of kids. I have them in
my twenties, but you know, there's also places to bring
your kids and places not to bring your kids. And
when you're negotiating with the President of India, first of all,
by the way, why he's negotiating with the President of
India when he's not an elected official, Okay, but even still,
(23:56):
like I mean, just the idea that a Republican donor,
because that's that's all he is, right, is involving himself
in just dismantling the federal government. I think that's a
big deal.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I get off the train right there. But I'm you know, legal, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I mean, I'm not entirely sure at his polling. Trump
is in this honeymoon period where his polling is as
good as it's ever been. But even in this honeymoon period,
Elon's polling is not great. You know, he's still underwater
about nine points and there is no world in which
there are you know, he's a billionaire. He's not even
fucking from here, right, he is from South Africa, his parents,
(24:35):
you know. I mean, they're just so many reasons why
American voters unless I mean, I don't know, maybe TikTok
and the algorithms can do something to make this guy
seem likable, But in my mind, I think they have
a real uphill climb.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So you think he's going to crash and burn at
some point.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I think someone who doesn't sleep at all is heading
for right, Yeah, number one. I mean I personally need
to sleep at least six seven hours a night, So
that is number one. But also, we've had this American
experiment and it has never involved a really rich guy
from somewhere else coming.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
In richest in the world.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Really, it does seem unprecedented and not what certainly not
what people voted for. I kind of thought he was
just a sort of mincing little supporter there and all
of a sudden he's running the joint. Okay, your turn.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, so I want you to talk to me about, like,
is what Elon Musk is doing it's is it illegal?
And if it is illegal, how could that be prosecuted.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It's a great question because what it really is is
like mind blowing, what the what are you even thinking?
And but then you take a deep breath and get
down to law. And he was sued twice yesterday on
a theory Molly that is legal and nerdy, but I
think has teeth and it's one that conservatives have always loved.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
And this is themocratic attorneys generals doing.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
This well in general, you see the the you know,
nineteen twenty twenty two, democratic age's really stepping up. But
here's a creative lawsuit and off hand Larry Tribe others
seems pretty good to us. Jeff Bladner, here's the deal.
There are three kinds of people who work in the
executive brands. Principal officers like, cabinet infier officers like but
(26:25):
they're important US attorneys and then everybody else. The law
is clear for infeeror officers. You can appoint them if
you're a president, but Congress has to authorize you to
do it. That's what is happening with the whole was
happening with the old Jack Smith thing. Principal officers have
to be nominated by the president and confirmed. That is
the appointments clause, which the conservatives are so into, saying,
(26:50):
you can't mess with the president's power. And what makes
a principal officer or infeeror officer. It's a little loosey goosey.
It's based on responsibility and lines of authority. But who
the hell is this guy? He is now I think
been clearly put above the cabinet. The cabinet people are
all sort of reporting to him. He and this is
(27:13):
the lawsuit. Really seems like he's been made a principal
officer and if that's right, got to nominate him and
confirm them. So that's a very interesting legal challenge. Then
everything else. Trump is trying to get away with it, saying, oh,
he's given advice and we're adopting it. Different parts of
that advice are illegal, like don't spend the money that
(27:35):
Congress told you to spend. But the general attack on
Musk himself that your question, what is he doing here?
And who is this guy? I think the best legal
garb for that theory is you've given him that kind
of authority, you got to treat him differently under the Constitution.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right, And I mean it just seems so incredibly shocking.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I mean that's part of It's like, oh, it's got
to be illegal one, But then what do lawyers do.
They got to like take that feeling, go in the
law books and figure out something that'll have purchase in
the courts. But I think this is a good one.
It's not the only one, but it's the best one
i've heard. We'll see how it goes. As I say,
two of them were filed just yesterday. Great, all right,
My last one to you. In the SDNY thing, you
(28:24):
have Trump, you know, trying to say we're not weaponizing government.
They were, and now it doesn't hunt. You had him
in the campaign Molly saying, oh I'm not for Project
twenty twenty five, And sure as hell, here he is.
And it's just page after page of Project twenty twenty five.
And as you've pointed out, the guys at his highest
(28:45):
rating ever. Do we think that not only his weird
anti charisma, charisma, whatever the hell it is, Trump factor,
it's not just that, but actually the Project twenty twenty
five kind of pretty extreme, mean spirited principles have now
attracted the support of the majority of the American people.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
No, I think what's happening is that they haven't seen
any even in action. In some ways, I think Democrats
were very much a victim of their own success when
it came to Trump. So they prevented a lot of
what Trump wanted, right, Like he wanted to repeal Obamacare,
he was not able to do that. You know, there
were all these different things he wanted to do that
he wasn't able to do. And in the end of
(29:29):
the Trump Aadmin. Government spending was way up. Now it
was because of the pandemic, but it was so Democrats
were like, oh, he's going to do Project twenty twenty five.
And people were like.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, the book at the convention, right right, right.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
But they were like, yeah, maybe, but last time he didn't.
I think it was very hard to make the case
that that was going to happen because there wasn't a
lot of precedent for it. So what I think now,
as we look onto this, you're seeing cuts at the
VA and cut for Medicare, And these are cuts. These
are not even legislatid cuts. These are just elon fork
(30:06):
in the road email cuts. So those cuts, if they're
really accurate. And again they you know, I don't know
how I mean, but even just like the freeze, the
NIH freeze, right, the NIH funding freeze, these things are
not popular, right, Like people don't like the reason why
billionaires have had to spend billions and billions of dollars
(30:29):
trying to promote tax cuts and stuff like that is
because voters don't like it, right, They don't like tax
cuts for corporations. Who is that for corporations? Not shareholders?
So Republicans. So I think that as it goes through,
people are going to see like, oh I used to
have this and now I don't. Oh who's president? I mean,
(30:50):
you know, I think that is definitely going to happen
and be real. And you're already seeing like cuts to snap.
These are Trump voters, right, These red states are not
filled with affluent people.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, now people in Alabama now can't pay their electric
bills right.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Right, And even like in Alabama is a really good
example because the University of Alabama is the biggest employer
in that state. So you have funding frozen to the
largest employer in a red state. I'm sorry, but like,
sooner or later, that's going to catch up with you.
So now the question, I think the real question will
(31:26):
be how much can this sort of maga media complex
cover for this. How much can they spin? Can they
spin you used to get two hundred dollars a week,
Now you get one hundred dollars a week. Can they
spin that? Maybe they can. I don't know. I'm not
a psychic, but I think that's where we're going to
get to.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Got it? Yeah? Trump said the other day, Oh, there
now will be paying it first.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Elon said that. I mean, you know, you're taking stuff
away from people. But again, like Democrats keep saying they're
going to do this, and Trump voters are like, no,
we are out of time. Thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You always great Another Molly mashup coming next month. Thank
you very much. Men O Man heavy time for both
of us.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Thank you, Harry Lentman. That was really good. Congressman Eric
Swahwaw represents California's fourteenth district. Welcome back to Fast Politics,
Congressman Eric.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Swahwell, Hey, Molly, what's happening?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I am without words today. I was on the internet
and I noticed that the federal government took eighty million
dollars of FEMA money back from the UH from New York.
What can they do that? Also, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (32:43):
No, they can't do any of the shit right.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
It's mostly just this shock and awe campaign and the
courts are just catching up with them on it. The
courts don't move at the speed of their corruptionism. Yes,
the courts are catching up. That's the good news. And
we're winning in the courts.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Also.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
The good news now they'll be appealed and ultimately will
be in front of the Supreme Court and we're going
to see is this the Supreme Court that said that
Trump had to be sentenced before the inauguration when he
tried to escape that, or is this the Supreme Court
that gave him absolute immunity. It's been quite a you know,
schizophrenic court, and so it's hard to tell what they'll do.
(33:22):
But the good news is like this stuff is being
paused and that one's probably going to be paused as well.
And then in the House, you know, look, we have
government funding coming up.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
On March fourteen.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
These geniuses have never been able to fund the government
on their own. The majority of the votes have always
come from Democrats. Spoiler alert, they're not going to be
able to fund the government on their own again. And
so I promise you, my Democratic colleagues and I we
are not going to fund a government that they have
(33:55):
already shut down, and we are in a government down
right now. We're not going to be a part of
anything you know, that funds like further shutting down of services.
And so that's the leverage I see us as having here.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
So I'm really glad you said that, because that is
what everyone wants. I mean, what you just said was
exactly the thing that I think a lot of us
have been ringing our hands about, which is there's one
piece of leverage that Democrats have left, right, which is
that Republicans cannot legislate their way out of a paper bag.
(34:32):
So you have this funding shutdown, and then you have
that Republicans, who care so much about fiscal responsibility want
to raise the debt ceiling four billion dollars.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
And they didn't want to do this when they saw
it as a way to own Joe Biden over a
year ago, when Democrats were seeking, you know, to do
a shorter term debt ceiling raise, which is essentially just
paying our bills. But and Trump was tweeting at the
time that Republicans absolutely should not do it again.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
He just wanted to, you know, fuck over Joe Biden.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
That was the only thinking behind it, and reeding to
do with making sure we pay our bills and that
we don't default upon our credit. And now that it's Trump,
he's like, well, I can't give away these big that's me.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
You want to pay out to the billionaires.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I can't give away all this money to the
billionaires without raising the dead ceiling.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
That's why he needs to do that.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
But you know, Molly, we have to be careful just
pointing them out as hypocritical, that doesn't work anymore. I've
priced in that these guys, you know, just because they
said A on Tuesday and they're saying Z on Wednesday,
that doesn't matter. We need to boil it down to
you were promised cheaper eggs and all you've gotten is
cheaper talk, you know, from the Republican And that's really
(35:48):
all that's going to matter.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
And by the way, I went to the grocery store
to die and there was like a little sign that's
like our eggs are more expensive. I want you to
explain to us the New Vogue Conversation topic in political
circles is that Democrats are not doing enough. I actually
think that you guys are starting to really kick it
into gear. So tell us what you guys are doing.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
A big part of this is just being present, letting
our be heard, and I've tried to update my constituents
every couple days with an Instagram Live. I'm doing a
town hall on Tuesday next week in Union City, the
heart of my congressional district. But just being accessible right now,
I think is really important so that people know that
(36:33):
you know you're listening. Every week or so, I'm doing
this under the Dome, a series where I do about
a five to six minute behind the scenes of what
we're working on that week, so people know that I'm
in the fight and I'm trying to draw them in
as well. So I've just recommended my colleagues be as
accessible is possible. Always on as a model right like
(36:54):
of social in the community on television. Just be always
on right now so people know you know that we
have not shrunk in our duties. But I also say
to people who are on the sidelines right now and
they're demoralized and they're upset about what happened in the
November election.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
I tell them, I understand.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
If you are not yet ready to join the fight,
and when you are ready, I'm ready to hold your
hand and go to battle with you. So just tell
me when you're ready, and I'll fight for you, and
others will fight for you.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
But I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Right now, Let's talk about sort of what Democrats can do.
So there's going to be a dead ceiling fight, there's
going to be a government shutdown fight. You don't have
control of the House, but you have sort of some
control of the House. So talk us through. Can you
guys do hearings? What kind of oversight can you guys do.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
We can kick ass in these congressional hearings. And I
think you're seeing us rise to the occasion in that regard.
Like you know, watch rober Garcia, a sophomore member from
Long Beach, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green first day ever
with the Gabble today doing this doge hearing, and he
was great. He was responding, landing points, using demonstrative evidence
(38:12):
to make his points to it.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
It was good.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
He was working in all all forms of media to
do it. And I'm just excited about this next generation
of leaders that we're seeing, for example, on the Judiciary Committee,
we added Jasmine Crocket and Dan Goldman and Jared Moskowitz.
I mean, these were people who really shined in the
Oversight Committee last year and now they're on Judiciary under
(38:35):
Jamie Raskin's leadership. And so yeah, it's also hearings we
hold them accountable. And then we have our own legal
strategy that Leader Jeffries is starting to roll out to
show you know, what we can do as well to
join the legal fight, you know, to stop you know,
the worst of the Trump administration so.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
We're not we're not helpless.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
And then, by the way, we need to show the
country who are the people on the Republican side that
are making the decisions about your life, who are most
likely to be thrown out of office if they make
the wrong decision, And so that you know, you give
them a homework assignment so they know who are the
twenty to thirty people who we should start organizing and
mobilizing around to beat if they were to take away
(39:15):
your health care or increase the cost of it.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
So you're going to hit frontliners on the GOP side.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
We have to.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
This is important only because right now and I can
say this is somebody who ran against an incumbent myself
when I got elected. This is the period of time
where candidates are deliberating over whether they want to run
for office. And we'll know by early fall who are
the candidates running and the seats that we are the
best shot at winning, and the caliber of those candidates
(39:44):
is going to matter. And so what we can do
on the inside right now in Congress is to create
an environment where the waters are worn and they feel like, Okay,
I'm going to make this big sacrifice, put my family
through hell, have to ask all my friends for money,
knock on one hundred thousand doors, and will it be
worth it? Is there a shot for me to win?
(40:04):
So we can create the environment where they see that
it's worth it, so that we attract the best who
can give us the best shot to win. And if
we win the House, Molly, we cut our time in
hell and half right.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
And if you win the House, you can do oversight.
One of the things I've been struck by is watching
members of the Doge Committee but opening the door again.
What I don't understand is you've got Republicans want They're
saying that they want to cut waste, but really they
want to cut the government subsidies the kind of thing
(40:37):
I mean, don't They just want to cut the social
safety net and they're saying that the safety net is fraud.
I mean, explain this, gass.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
The only way you know to pay for these tax
cuts that they're proposing, you know, would be cuts to
the Affordable Care Act, Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid.
That there's no way around it. And so that's what
they're going to have to do. And by the way,
we are seeing as Doge cuts, the government under Trump
is going to spend you know, more on Musk's government
(41:07):
funded projects.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Right, So he's in these systems.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
I would put him on a top five list of
individuals who benefit the most in America from government spending.
And he's in there making cuts as his contracts expand.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
So that that is right. Concert.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Do you know what Elon Musk and his merry band
of early twenty year olds are doing in all those
government computers.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
They're in your data, they're in my data, they're in
the data of Americans.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
And what are they doing in there?
Speaker 5 (41:38):
They're going through to see, you know, how they can
change the way that government funded programs are funded. And
we've seen this because of the filings that these departments
and agencies have had to do under court order. And
we learned, you know, yesterday that one of these doge bros.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
He was supposed to.
Speaker 5 (41:58):
Be in what's called a read only part of the
Treasury Department's data, but that he was given accidentally. They said,
you know, the ability to edit and to take affirmative acts.
Whether they are acting maliciously with our data or whether
through mistake, these unvetted, untrusted individuals are getting access to
(42:19):
our data, it's still a shit show, right. I don't
care if it's malice or unintentional. I don't want these
unvetted individuals to have access to our data.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
It just seems like a big violation of our priduice.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Also, why do they want the data? Like, that's what
I don't totally understand, Like, tell me what the sort
of what they say the excuses for doing it.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
They would argue that they're trying to look at how
the government spends money and who the recipients are and
whether there's cuts that can be made. Now, of course,
if they're like chat gpten this thing, they're essentially looking
for any anything that has to do with climate change,
anything that has to do with the verse city. We
(43:00):
had one massive government agency whistleblower come to our office
and tell us that a particular project was told get
rid of everything on your website and in your materials
that refers to climate change. So there's this just practice
of identifying government programs that help people that don't align
(43:22):
with what Donald Trump wants. And these are ones that
are already funded by Congress and deleting them and ending them.
And you know, the good news is is I said,
the courts are not going along with this right now,
but that is their aim.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
What can you do in Congress to sort of put
the brakes on? Are you guys willing to do more
sort of blocking doors and forcing them to do whatever
they can do? I mean, what else can you guys do?
Speaker 5 (43:48):
My vote is the most powerful tool that I have.
I am going to block a further government shutdown. So
I'm not going to support anything that keeps the government
shut down, which is what they're doing right now. My
voice is the other effective tool, and so I'm going
to continue to update my constituents, tell them what they
can do in the fight as well, and who they
should be holding accountable and so that we socialize, you know, with.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
The public what the cost is of all of this.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
But I think at the end of the day, Molly,
what this really has to be about is what the fuck.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
Does any of this have to do with lowering.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
The cost of your groceries. That's what I promised he
had a mandate to do that. He never manage to
go look at our data, you know, with people that
don't work for the government. You have a mandate to
put the most violent people who have ever you know,
attacked the government and put them on our streets. Hen
to have a mandate to fire FBI agents who combat
(44:40):
terrorism and public corruption and money laundering. He didn't have
a mandate to do any of that, but that's where
his focus, you know, seems to be. And then anything
that goes wrong he just blames Dei. That's what he says.
If there's an airplane crash, it was DEI. If there's
a fire in La it was Dei, Which means to
me that the next time he says something was caused
by DEI, that to him, DEI stands for didn't ever investigate,
(45:06):
Because that's just an alibi for them to not be
held accountable for what's happening on their watch.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
Eric, of course, thank you all.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
No, momentlefut, Jesse, Cannon, Molly, we know this stuff is coming.
North Dakota is going to try to ban the morning
after pill, because that's smart.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I never saw this coming. I never ever ever saw
this coming. I never ever, ever, ever ever saw this coming. Yes,
who could have seen that the Republicans who wanted to
ban the abortion pill would take their banning powers to
(45:55):
the morning after pill. Look, the whole idea is that
Republicans believe that a sperm and an egg is a
person and that that person should have more rights than
you do. And that is how we got here. So, yes,
North Dakota, the Republicans are going to do this personhood
bill HB thirteen seventy three, which would make abortion of
(46:18):
crime that can be prosecuted similar to murder and assault.
But that said, if you murder a woman, you're probably okay.
It defines an unborn child is an egg innisperm. Does
this pass? I mean there's no reason why it won
I mean, these guys are out of control, by the way,
I just want to point out this is what Project
(46:38):
twenty twenty five wants to do, and if you don't
see that birth control is next, then I don't know
what to tell you. That's it for this episode of
Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
to hear the best minds and politics make sense of
(46:58):
all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please send
it to a friend and keep the conversation going. Thanks
for listening.
Host
Molly Jong-Fast
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